SPONTANEOUS SADDLEBACK SONNET SESSIONS

JACKSON JAMES WOOD

SPONTANEOUS SADDLEBACK SONNET SESSIONS

JACKSON JAMES WOOD

SADDLEBACK SONNET SESSIONS

JACKSON JAMES WOOD

Jackson James Wood Publishing

First published by Jackson James Wood Publishing September 2012.

Spontaneous Saddleback Sonnet Sessions by Jackson James Wood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence

Cover illustration by Joshua Drummond used under the implict understanding Jackson will cry if Josh sues him.All copy written by Jackson James Wood, except the parts that weren’t.

Subedited by Amy Lovegrove. She was literally paid in peanuts (in the form of peanut butter).

ISBN 978-0-473-22540-7

www.jacksonjwood.com

Th is is the electronic version.

Th ere are probably hundreds, if not thousands of copies of this on Th e Internet.

Like this little compilation? Support Jackson and support Forest and Bird by stumping up some koha.http://bit.ly/saddlebacksonnets

CONTENTSForeword

Introduction

Tahi:

Rua:

Toru:

Wha:

Rima:

Ono:

Whitu:

Afterword

Seven spontaneous Saddleback sonnets

Hot hand

Love birds

Shotgun conservation

Extinction

Isolation

Hope

Tīeke triangle

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1

3

5

7

9

11

13

15

17

i

For Amyand my parentsand sisterJosh, Daniel, Keith etcOh, and Tīeke too.

FOREWORD

iii

Jackson James Wood. Jackson. James. Wood. What’s in a name? This: It conjures up images of woody green glens, glenny green woods, and the birds that inhabit them. A man with a name like Jackson James Wood was born to be either an environmentalist or a lumberjack. He chose the former. Forest creatures everywhere are grate-ful, for surely none would have been as great a lumberjack as he.

When I first met Jackson James Wood — a small, pointed, blond man, bear-ing an small, pointed, blond resem-blance to the Belgian journalist Tin-tin — the first thing that struck me, apart from his fist (in an ill-timed fist-bumping accident) was the pe-culiar woody rhythm of his name. “Here”, I thought, “is a man who loves Forests, and Birds, and every-thing they stand for.” I waited for him to speak, and he did. Jackson James Wood spoke to me, and the sound

of his words was as the beating of be-saddled, stubby wings, the trilling of ti-eke-eke-eke-eke-eke! Jackson James Wood, it turned out, was fond — nay, positively enamored — with that great, tiny bird of burden, the Saddleback.

Time slipped by easily as he spoke pas-sionately of the Saddleback. Its beau-ty, its grace, the way that its young gambol and play on the forest floor, its near-fall into extinction, its rescue, its inevitable triumph.

“A Tīeke, free in the bush,” Jackson said, “is worth two in the hand.” I fell into a kind of trance, as if in the presence of Tāne Mahuta himself, as he pressed drink after drink into my hands and continued talking, talking, talking. I was bewildered, enraptured, converted. I awoke the next morn-ing disheveled yet excited, my head pounding but clear. I had fallen in love with the Tīeke, and I would fol-

BY JOSHUA DRUMMOND

iv

low its hop-hop-hop, its clumsy flight, its trilling, bewitching call — I would follow it anywhere. What a rare bird. A rare and wonderful bird indeed.

Jackson James Wood is to Tīeke as Christ was to cross-shaped things. He is their great populariser and evange-list. He got a tattoo of one, for fuck’s sake! And I am to Jackson James Wood as Paul was to Christ: abrasive, dogmatic, slightly weird about the whole thing.

Now that Bird of the Year gives us the opportunity to vote for the Tīeke in a competition weighing the various merits of the Native Birds of New Zealand, it should go without saying that it should win. However, nature is a cruel mother, and her children must needs fight among themselves for su-premacy. How wonderful, then, that we all should be given the opportuni-ty to see the words of Jackson James Wood put down into eternal print

form, the same words that converted me to the great cause of the Tīeke, be-sotted with the besaddle’d bird.

I know, having read Jackson James Wood’s poems, sonnets, and various wanky esoterica, you will feel the ap-propriate degree of devotion, and we shall all rally to the cause together. I shall see you on the Saddleback side.

Semper fi,

Joshua Drummond, Hamilton, September 2012

1

INTRODUCTIONThe Tīeke / Saddleback (Philesturnus carunculatus) is a truly magnificent bird.

I first (knowingly) saw a Tīeke on my 27th birthday just this year. It brought tears to my eyes — my girl-friend Amy can vouch for this — and ranks as one of the happiest mo-ments of my life. After two years of being the Bird of the Year champion for this example of avian awesome-ness, I feel a close affinity with the bird. My friends call this an obses-sion.

Maybe it is, but Tīeke are such inter-esting little critters. Members of the wattlebird family, they are cheeky and charismatic as they pip around chirping incessantly. Despite all their beauty and squawk they are poor fli-ers who, because of their propensi-ty to nest near the ground, are easy pickings for introduced predators.

This series of seven sonnets tells the tale of the Tīeke.

We start off with a sonnet-ification of the traditional Maori story of how the Tīeke got its saddle and moves on to the story of Ngatoroirangi’s sacred Saddle-back: Mumuhau and Takareto. This is followed by a look at the early Pakeha attitude toward conservation, the threat of extinction, isolation on offshore is-lands, ending in hope and sanctuary.

It is a sad story, but one that ends on a note of hope for the Tīeke, and all en-dangered New Zealand birds. Bird of the Year, and the conservation efforts of Forest and Bird, are part of that hope.

Ti-e-ke-ke-ke-ke,

Jackson James Wood Wellington, September 2012 (Tīeke-Twelve: Year of the Saddleback)

SEVEN SPONTANEOUS SADDLEBACK SONNETS

3

HOT HAND

Maui set out one day to slow the sun,

with his rope and bros, to make days longer.

Tīeke hopped beside, intent on fun.

“Rere!” Maui cried as Rā grew stronger

and his flesh burned and muscles ached with strain.

But, like a boss, Tīeke stayed at hand

until Rā promised not to speed again.

“Bring me water, bird,” Maui did demand

But Tīeke paid no heed to the man.

“I’m thirsty and burnt , bring me wai reka!”

Grabbing at Tīeke with his hot hand,

Maui threw him into Okareka.

A burn mark which will forever straddle,

Tīeke emerged with a chestnut saddle.

5

LOVE BIRDS

Mumuhau and Takareto sat within

the tohunga’s ponga-walled whare silently.

Takareto sang a love song to begin

but Ngatoro appeared violently.

“Tell me what the weather will do tonight,”

Ngatoro asked of the Tīeke pair.

“Tāwhiri will weep pango: black, no light.

Forget plans. Say your prayers. Stay here. Stay here.”

Ngatoro picked up his kete and cloak

“Tēnā rūkahu tēnā, my love birds,”

he said as he left through mist like smoke.

Takareto turned, not needing any words.

The Tīeke were wont to love and laugh.

As they say, old birds are not caught with chaff.

7

SHOTGUN CONSERVATION

I sat among the kahikatea

observing a black bird with red wattles.

And pondered, while I ate quesadilla,

its saddle: like sun through brown beer bottles.

Saw specimens in Paris and London.

Stuffed, stored, and safe in museums of dust.

But Saddleback are beaut to gaze upon:

a blur of black feathers and blaze of rust.

Apparently Saddleback are dying

due to multiplication of pests.

But, as I am, among the trees, lying

they’re beautiful: much better than breasts.

I waited and, with great concentration,

shot it... in the name of conservation.

9

ISOLATION

Banished from Te Ika-a-Māui.

Banished from all of Aotearoa.

From forests in which we used to fly free,

we almost went the same way as the moa.

Mammals are hungry. We just can’t compete

with possums, cats and rats, weasels and stoats:

we’re small and we’re tasty, easy to eat.

Now stuck on islands, small castles with moats,

we Tīeke don’t mind isolation.

But now that it is nineteen sixty-four,

Humans can, and should, be our salvation.

Oh look, something big has just washed ashore.

Thirty-six birds fled extinction today

but with these humans it won’t be okay.

11

EXTINCTION

Callaeidae cousins, gather around

so I can tell you a tale of woe

about a species which used to abound

but which is now, sadly, long past gone, bro.

Our feathers worn as a sign of high rank,

our strange beaks studied by Darwin himself!

None of it helped when our numbers did tank.

Now our corpses sit on many a shelf.

The Huia are gone, it’s a disgrace

But cousin, Tīeke you are still there.

Take it from me, existence is a race!

Losing you too would be too much to bear.

The Saddleback listened to his remark

and said “Extinction, fuck that for a lark.”

13

HOPE

Dear Hon. Minister of Conservation,

I am writing you to ask a favour

about native birds, their preservation.

We need to step up efforts, be braver.

Through a mix of pest eradication,

education and a sanctuary

we can ensure species preservation.

It will cost. Saving nature isn’t free.

But the cost is worth it. Let’s do a trial.

Of special interest are Saddleback.

We can move them, breed them. It’ll take a while.

With work and money, we can bring them back.

We ecologists call it translocation:

a long holiday to regeneration.

15

TIEKE TRIANGLE

Mum took me out to Karori today

to see the Saddleback, my fave bird ever.

We learnt about them at school from Miss Hay.

They’re bros to Kōkako, but better.

Orokonui was totally cool.

At Tiritiri Maitangi I cried.

Saving Saddleback: that should be the rule,

I can’t believe we almost let them died.

When I grow up I’ma save all our birds!

We should have taken better care of them,

you know. New Zealand skies can totes have herds

of Saddleback flying free again.

The Tīeke triangle: it’s where I live.

I will save them, my entire life to give.

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AFTERWORDBird of the Year encourages New Zea-landers to think about our precious native birds. It highlights the threats they face, the pests we’ve introduced and the loss of habitat we are forcing on them.

What I like the most about Bird of the Year is that we, as a country, have a chance to tell stories about conser-vation. This is important because our beautiful birds make it easier to in-volve everyone in a conversation about conservation.

The tale of the Tīeke illustrates how we went from an avian paradise where the culture revered their link to nature to one that seems to want to actively de-stroy our environment.

So, I am going to keep on doing things like giving people rides on my back, getting tattoos, and putting out lit-tle books of bad poetry to help raise awareness about the plight of our spe-cial native critters.

And you should too.

Get involved. Help save the Saddle-back. Help save our environment. Help save our planet. No one else is going to do it.

— JJW

“I really liked this book. A lot. That’s what you wanted me to say, right?” — Richard Wood, Jackson’s dad

“How much are you going to pay me for using my artwork? Cough up.”—Joshua Drummond, Artist and Writer

“These sonnets were so captivating that I almost voted Tieke.” — Rachel Anderson-Smith, Kaka Campaign Manager

“I did actually vote Tieke.” — David Slack, Kokako Campaign Manager

VOTESADDLEBACK#BIRDOFTHEYEARwww.birdoftheyear.org.nz

ISBN 978-0-473-22539-1

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